Pubdate: Fri, 02 May 2014
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2014 Star Tribune
Contact: http://www.startribunecompany.com/143
Website: http://www.startribune.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Patrick Condon

MINNESOTA SENATE DROPS SMOKING FROM MEDICAL MARIJUANA BILL

Proposals prohibit smoking medical marijuana, leaving pills and
vaporizers as ways to ingest the drug.

Minnesota might see a law to legalize medical marijuana this year, but
not in a form that would allow anyone to smoke the drug.

A Senate panel on Friday struck smoking from its medical marijuana
bill, meaning patients who qualify for access to the drug would have
to use a vaporizer, or ingest it in pill or oil form. The more
restrictive House bill also prohibits smoking as a delivery method,
leaving little chance that any final version of the measure would allow it.

Sen. Scott Dibble, the bill's chief sponsor, acknowledged that some
concessions would have to be made to preserve any chance of legalizing
medical marijuana.

"We are trying to respond to concerns," the Minneapolis DFLer said
Friday. "I myself am not thrilled with these changes, but I am to the
extent that it makes more people comfortable. I think we are
protecting the main principles and values we're trying to accomplish,
which is getting more people access on a limited and restricted basis
to something that will help them."

The prospect of people being allowed to legally smoke marijuana has
brought major objections from law enforcement groups, who have been
the chief obstacles at the Capitol to a sweeping medical marijuana
law.

"We don't believe that smoking marijuana provides a medicinal value,"
said Dennis Flaherty, executive director of the Minnesota Police and
Peace Officers Association. "We believe any value comes with certain
medicinal qualities of the plant itself that can be extracted without
actually having to burn it."

Gov. Mark Dayton has said consistently that he would follow the lead
of law enforcement if a medical marijuana bill gets to his desk. He
has proposed state-backed research into the medicinal qualities of
marijuana as preferable to the wider legalization offered in the
Senate bill. The House proposal, which surfaced Thursday, comes
closer, establishing clinical trials in which access to marijuana
would be closely supervised for those with certain medical conditions.

Some lawmakers criticized the way in which medical marijuana proposals
are being reshaped to address the concerns of critics.

"Political opinions about how a medicine is administered, I find very
interesting," said state Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, who is also a
city prosecutor.

In addition to pill or oil form, both the House and Senate versions of
the medical marijuana bill would allow the drug to be consumed with a
vaporizer. Here's how Dibble described such devices: "Vaporizing is
putting it in a little machine, heating it up to the point that
doesn't quite allow it to combust but allows it to release the
compounds that are beneficial to ingest in that form." He said
vaporizing delivers "almost the identical benefits" as smoking.

Despite its new prohibition on smoking, Dibble's bill remains much
broader than its House counterpart. It would authorize up to 55
medical marijuana dispensaries around the state, include a wider list
of patients eligible for the drug, and would not require that it be
administered in the presence of a doctor.

Heather Azzi, political director for Minnesotans for Compassionate
Care, said if Minnesota approves legalization but bars patients from
smoking, it would be the only one among the 22 states that allow
medical marijuana to enforce such a prohibition.

Both versions of the bill are moving quickly at the Capitol. Both
cleared committee votes on Friday, and votes by the full House and
Senate are possible as early as next week.
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MAP posted-by: Matt